Portable staging centers that can be transported over the highway from one performing area to another are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,564 owned by the assignee of this application discloses a self-propelled portable stage wherein one or both sidewalls of a chassis mounted staging compartment can be raised to provide an overhead canopy. With the sidewall raised, a staging apron can be pivoted downwardly underneath the canopy. Support arms extend from the canopy downwardly and inwardly to the unraised portion of the near vehicle sidewall to support the canopy in its raised position.
The need to support the canopy from the near sidewall in prior art portable stages effectively reduced the floor area of the stage. In particular, the side to side width of the stage floor in prior portable stages was confined to the length between the front wall and rear wall of the staging compartment. A portable performance platform that was capable of supporting an overhead canopy from the far side wall, rather than the near sidewall, of the staging compartment would be a decided advantage in terms of the floor space presented by the platform.